OUST  OF  EDGAR  ALLAN  POE  from  the  plaster 
model  by  George  J.  Zolnay,  the  bronze  replica  of 
which  is  now  in  the  library  of  the  University  of  Virginia 
at  Charlottesville,  Va. 


New 
Glimpses  of  Poe 


BY 

JAMES  A.  HARRISON 

Professor  in  the  University  of  Virginia 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

M.  F.  MANSFIELD  &  COMPANY 

MDCCCCI 


COPYRIGHT 

1901 
M.  F.  MANSFIELD 


r? 


* 
A 


Dedicated 

to 
The  Poe  Memorial  Association 


A 

University  of  Virginia 


T  hold  'within  my  hand 

Grains  of  the  golden  sana  — 
How  few  !  yet  how  they  creep 
Through  my  fingers  to  the  deep 
While  I  weep — while  I  weep  ! 

— A  Dream  Within  a  Dream 


Contents 


PROEM       u 

POE  MEMORIAL  ASSOCIATION       15 

CHARACTERISTICS       19 

POE  As  A  PLAYMATE       25 

POE  As  A  STUDENT       35 

POE  AS  A  LECTURER       43 

CONCLUSION       51 


List  of  Illustrations 


THE  ZOLNAY  BUST.    Photo  from  plaster  model. 

(3  plates.) 
FAC  SIMILE  FROM  ARCHIVES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 

(2  plates. ) 
THE  POE  MARRIAGE  BOND,  (i  plate.) 


PROEM 

THE  chapters  constituting  this  little 
book  originally  appeared  in  The 
Independent  for  September,  1900, 
and  are  reprinted  here  through  the  courtesy 
of  the  editor.  Such  as  they  are,  they  are 
the  outgrowth  of  a  movement  among  the 
students  and  professors  of  the  University 
of  Virginia  to  do  honor  to  Poe,  its  most 
famous  alumnus,  and  remove  from  his  mem 
ory  the  slanders  of  Griswold  and  others. 
This  movement  resulted,  among  other  things, 
in  the  formation  of  The  Poe  Memorial  As 
sociation,  the  purchase  and  placing  of  a 
beautiful  bust  of  the  poet,  by  Zolnay,  in  the 
Library  of  the  University,  and  the  conse 
cration  to  Poe  and  his  fellow  Southern 

ii 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


writers  of  an  alcove  where  might  be  gath 
ered  as  completely  as  possible  all  the  works 
of  distinguished  Southrons,  for  study  and 
delectation.  Thus  far  about  200  volumes 
grace  the  shelves  of  this  little  collection,  two- 
thirds  of  them  contributed  freely  and  gen 
erously  by  famous  living  Southern  authors 
who  individually  and  collectively  expressed 
their  pleasure  in  being  associated  with  Poe 
in  this  renaissance  of  Southern  letters. 

Another  outgrowth  of  the  movement  was 
the  noble  address  of  Hamilton  Wright 
Mabie,  Esq.,  literary  editor  of  The  Outlook, 
in  October,  1899,  on  "  Poe's  Race  in  Ameri 
can  Literature,"  delivered  before  the  Asso 
ciation  on  the  occasion  of  the  unveiling  of 
the  Zolnay  bust  in  the  great  Hall  of  the 
University, — an  address  afterwards  pub 
lished  in  fitting  form  in  the  pages  of  The 
Atlantic  Monthly. 

The  three  glimpses  of  Poe  as  Playmate, 
Student,  Lecturer,  as  Child,  Youth,  and 
Man,  sprung  from  the  correspondence  of  the 
writer  with  two  or  three  intimates  and  con 
temporaries  of  the  poet  who  preserved  on 

J2 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


the  tablets  of  their  memories  little  scenes  and 
reminiscences  that  seemed  worthy  of  preser 
vation  and  who  have  permitted  him  to  re 
produce  them  here  in  permanent  form. 


POE      MEMORIAL      ASSOCIA 
TION 

FOR  the  benefit  of  those  who  do  not 
know  the  purpose  and  aim  of  this 
association,     the     following    resolu 
tions  and  constitution,  adopted  at  the  found 
ing  of  the  association  in  November,  1897,  are 
given : 

"  WHEREAS  our  most  famous  Alumnus,  Edgar 
Allan  Poe,  has  never  been  sufficiently  honored  here 
at  the  University  of  Virginia  by  public  testimonials 
of  his  worth; 

And  whereas  it  has  now  been  determined  to  erect 
to  his  memory  a  bronze  bust  in  the  new  library; 

And  whereas  it  is  clearly  the  pious  duty  of  the 
University  of  Virginia  to  collect  and  preserve  all  of 
his  literary  productions,  souvenirs  of  his  life  and 
work  and  material  contributing  to  the  full  under 
standing  and  appreciation  of  his  career;  therefore 
be  it 

15 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


Resolved,  That  for  these  and  kindred  purposes  we 
here  and  now  organize  a  permanent  Poe  Memorial 
Association. 

CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   POE    MEMORIAL   ASSOCIATION: 

ART.  I. 

The  members  of  this  Association  shall  be  all  those 
who  have  contributed,  or  shall  hereafter  contribute, 
the  sum  of  one  dollar  or  more  to  further  the  purposes 
of  the  Association. 

II. 

The  officers  of  the  Association  shall  be  a  President, 
a  Vice-President,  and  a  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
elected  at  the  annual  meeting  in  November,  and  in 
addition  it  shall  be  in  the  province  of  the  Associa 
tion  to  elect  Honorary  Vice-Presidents  from  non 
resident  members  of  the  Association. 

III. 

The  duties  of  the  officers  shall  be  those  usually 
appertaining  to  the  offices  they  fill,  but  in  addition  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  and  Treasurer  to 
prepare  and  cause  to  be  published  in  COLLEGE  TOPICS, 
twice  during  the  session,  once  near  the  beginning 
and  once  near  the  end  of  the  session,  a  full  state 
ment  of  all  moneys  received  and  disbursed,  together 
with  such  other  information  as  the  Executive  Council 
may  deem  advisable. 

IV. 

The   Executive    Council,   composed   of   the   three 
16 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


officers  of  the  Association,  and  six  members  elected 
by  the  Association  at  its  annual  meeting  in  Novem 
ber,  shall  have  full  control  of  all  plans  and  their 
execution,  subject,  of  course,  to  the  general  judg 
ment  of  the  Association. 

The  following  officers  were  elected:  President, 
Dr.  Charles  W.  Kent;  Vice-President,  Schuyler 
Poitevent;  Secretary,  Prof.  James  A.  Harrison. 
Members  of  Executive  Council,  Gordon  Wilson,  E. 
H.  H.  Old,  L.  C.  Williams,  R.  S.  Brank. 


CHARACTERISTICS 

EDGAR  ALLAN  POE'S  twin  connec 
tion  with  New  York  and  the  Uni 
versity  of  Virginia  makes  any  new 
light  or  new  incident  of  local  color  con 
nected  with  the  poet  interesting  to  his  ad 
mirers  in  both  localities.  Tennyson's  belief, 
lately  expressed  in  his  memoirs,  that  Poe 
was  "  the  most  original  genius  that  America 
had  produced/'  sets  a  seal  upon  his  fame  not 
easily  to  be  overestimated  even  by  indiscreet 
eulogists,  and  justifies  readers  of  his  works 
in  rescuing  from  oblivion  before  it  is  too 
late  anecdotes  and  adventures  or  eccen 
tricities  that  may  hitherto  have  escaped 
notice. 

While  engaged  in  collecting  material  for 
filling  the  Poe  Akove  in  the  new  Rotunda 
Library  of  the  University  of  Virginia  I  had 

19 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


the  good  fortune  to  fall  into  correspondence 
with  several  gentlemen  who  had  known  Poe 
personally,  one  of  them  intimately.  They 
wrote  out  their  reminiscences  of  the  author 
of  the  famous  tales  and  poems,  and  now 
kindly  permit  their  use  in  this  paper.  The 
fading  fires  of  the  poet's  great  gray  eyes 
kindle  anew  in  these  sympathetic  pages  and 
throw  out  new  and  characteristic  sparks  of 
grotesquerie  and  pathos  as  his  early  esca 
pades  are  recounted,  and  this  human  opal 
becomes  charged  and  charged  again  with 
malignant  or  with  beautiful  fires,  slyly  re 
treating  or  unexpectedly  shooting  forth 
under  the  magnet  of  circumstance.  These 
glimpses  of  personal  acquaintances  present 
Poe  as  a  child,  a  student  and  a  lecturer.  The 
Hamlet  nature  of  the  man,  with  its  unsteady 
purpose,  its  wonderfully  poetic  flickerings, 
its  strange  logic  and  its  boundless  inconse 
quence,  makes  him  a  unique  psychological 
study  truly  Shakespearean  in  the  multiplicity 
of  its  facets  and  angles.  To  voyage  through 
the  shadow-land  of  a  nature  whose  good  and 
evil,  angel  and  demon,  lie  adumbrated  rather 
20 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 

than  salient,  where  melodies  of  Heaven  and 
cries  of  Hell  float  on  the  never-serene  air, 
and  where  the  radiance  of  the  Mediterra 
nean  may  in  a  moment  lapse  into  the  glim 
mer  of  the  rotting  tarns  of  Trinidad,  mocks 
the  geography  of  the  psychologist  and  re 
duces  his  pretty  charts  of  the  soul  to  a  genu 
ine  terra  incognita.  These  "  glimpses  of  the 
moon  "  reveal  Poe,  first,  as  he  stands  before 
us  a  child  in  the  home  of  his  adopted  father, 
Mr.  Allan,  in  the  good  city  of  Richmond  in 
the  year  1825. 


I 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


fl  A  brief  memorandum  relating  to  Poe,  prepared 
by  Thomas  H.  Ellis,  formerly  of  Richmond,  now  of 
Washington,  D.  C. ;  a  gentleman  well-known  to  the 
biographers  of  Poe.  [Col.  Ellis  died  lately.] 


A  UTOGRAPHIC  PLATINOTYPE   RE- 

•**•     PRODUCTION    OF    THE     ZoLNAY     BuST 


A  UTOGRAPHIC   PLATINOTYPE   RE- 

PRODUCTION    OF    THE    ZoLNAY    BuST 


L—POE  AS  A  PLAYMATE 

4  C  /^"X  N  the  8th  of  December,  181 1,  Mrs. 
I  1  Poe,  of  English  birth,  one  of  the 
actresses  of  the  company  then 
playing  on  the  Richmond  boards,  died  in 
Richmond,  leaving  three  children.  Her 
husband  had  died  not  long  before,  in  Nor 
folk.  She  had  made  herself  a  favorite  with 
those  who  were  in  the  habit  of  attending  the 
theater,  which  was  then  the  fashionable 
entertainment  with  educated  people,  both  in 
this  country  and  England.  There  was  gen 
eral  sympathy  for  the  little  orphans  left  by 
her.  The  eldest  of  the  three,  William  Henry, 
was  adopted  by  his  grandfather,  Mr.  Poe,  of 

25 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 

Baltimore,  a  gentleman  of  social  position 
there,  and  of  family  pride,  who  had  been 
much  offended  by  his  son's  marriage  with  an 
actress.  This  child  died  young,  but  lived 
long  enough  to  develop  rare  promise.  The 
second  child,  born  January  19,  1809,  was 
adopted  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Allan,  of 
Richmond;  the  youngest,  a  daughter,  was 
adopted  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Macken 
zie,  also  of  Richmond;  and  the  names  Edgar 
Allan  and  Rose  Mackenzie  were  given  in 
baptism  by  the  Rev.  John  Buchanan,  D.D., 
at  the  residence  of  Mr.  John  Richard,  who 
was  a  friend  of  all  the  parties  concerned. 

"  The  death  of  Mrs.  Poe  occurred  eigh 
teen  days  before  the  burning  of  the  Rich 
mond  Theater,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Allan  would  have  been  pres 
ent  on  that  occasion  but  for  the  circum 
stance  that  they  were  spending  the  Christ 
mas  holidays  at  Mr.  Boiler  Cocke's,  at 
Turkey  Island,  with  Edgar.  Mr.  Allan  and 
my  father  were  partners  in  business.  They 
had  been  raised  together  as  clerks  in  the 
store  of  Mr.  William  Gait,  who  was  the 
26 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


most  successful  merchant  of  his  day  in  Vir 
ginia.  The  business  of  Ellis  and  Allan,  be 
ginning  in  1800,  so  prospered  that  after  the 
war  of  1812-15,  they  determined  to  estab 
lish  a  branch  house  in  London,  for  which 
purpose  Mr.  Allan  went  abroad  and  re 
mained  in  England  five  years.  He  was  ac 
companied  by  his  wife  (a  cousin  of  my 
mother),  by  his  sister-in-law,  Miss  Anne  M. 
Valentine,  and  by  his  adopted  son.  On 
their  return,  his  own  house  having  been 
leased,  so  that  he  could  not  get  possession 
of  it,  Mr.  Allan  and  his  family  became 
members  of  my  father's  family  and  lived 
with  us,  I  suppose,  nearly  a  year.  It  was 
then  and  there  that  my  recollections  of  Ed 
gar  A.  Poe  began. 

"  He  was  very  beautiful,  yet  brave  and 
manly  for  one  so  young.  No  boy  ever  had 
a  greater  influence  over  me  than  he  had. 
He  was,  indeed,  a  leader  among  his  play 
mates;  but  my  admiration  for  him  scarcely 
knew  bounds.  The  consequence  was,  he  led 
me  to  do  many  a  forbidden  thing,  for  which 
I  was  duly  punished.  The  only  whipping  I 

27 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


ever  knew  Mr.  Allan  to  give  him  was  for 
carrying  me  into  the  fields  and  woods  be 
yond  '  Belvidere/  adjacent  to  what  is  now 
Hollywood  Cemetery,  one  Saturday,  and 
keeping  me  there  all  day  and  until  after 
dark,  without  anybody  at  home  knowing 
where  we  were;  and  for  shooting  a  lot  of 
domestic  fowls,  belonging  to  the  proprietor 
of  '  Belvidere/  who  was  at  that  time,  I 
think,  Judge  Bushrod  Washington.  He 
taught  me  to  shoot,  to  swim,  to  skate,  to 
play  bandy;  and  I  ought  to  mention  that  he 
once  saved  me  from  drowning — for  having 
thrown  me  into  the  falls  headlong,  that  I 
might  '  strike  out '  for  myself,  he  presently 
found  it  necessary  to  come  to  my  help  or  it 
would  have  been  too  late!  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Allan  having  no  children  of  their  own,  lav 
ished  upon  him  their  whole  affection ;  he  was 
sent  to  the  best  schools,  he  was  taught  every 
accomplishment  that  a  boy  could  acquire,  he 
was  trained  to  all  the  habits  of  the  most 
polished  society.  There  was  not  a  brighter, 
more  graceful  or  more  attractive  boy  in  the 
city  than  Edgar  Allan  Poe.  Talent  for 
28 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


declamation  was  one  of  his  gifts.  I  well 
remember  a  public  exhibition  at  the  close  of 
a  course  of  instruction  in  elocution  which  he 
had  attended,  and  my  delight  when,  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  and  distinguished  com 
pany  he  bore  off  the  prize  in  competition  with 
Channing  Moore,  Gary  Wickham,  Andrew 
Johnston,  Nat  Howard,  and  others  who 
were  regarded  as  among  the  most  prom 
ising  of  the  Richmond  boys. 

"  Not  content  with  an  adopted  son,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Allan  desired  to  adopt  a  daughter 
also,  and  were  constantly  begging  for  my 
sister,  now  Mrs.  Beverly  Tucker.  The  inti 
macy  between  the  two  families — my  father's 
and  Mr.  Allan's — was  naturally  very  close; 
on  one  side — I  mean  the  side  of  the  Ellis 
boys  and  girls — our  largest  Christmas  gifts, 
birthday  presents,  etc.,  came  from  the  Al 
lans.  Edgar  was  once  guilty  of  a  piece  of 
meanness  for  which  I  have  not  forgiven  him 
to  this  day.  With  our  father  and  mother 
we  had  gone  down  to  spend  Christmas  even 
ing  with  the  Allans.  Among  the  toys  pro 
vided  for  our  entertainment  was  a  snake — a 

29 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


long,  slim,  shiny  thing  made  in  sections, 
which  were  fastened  to  each  other  by  wires, 
and  a  boy,  by  taking  hold  of  the  tail  and 
holding  it  out  from  his  body,  could  make  it 
wriggle  and  dart  about  in  the  most  lifelike 
manner.  This  hideous  imitation  of  a  ser 
pent  Edgar  took  in  his  hand,  and  kept  pok 
ing  it  at  my  sister  Jane  until  it  almost  ran 
her  crazy. 

"  Of  course  I  knew  about  his  swim  of 
seven  miles  in  James  River  down  to  War 
wick,  accompanied  by  Robert  G.  Cabell, 
Robert  C.  Stanard,  and  perhaps  two  or  three 
other  schoolboys,  with  Mr.  William  Burke, 
their  schoolmaster,  who  went  along  in  a  row- 
boat  to  rescue  him  in  case  his  strength  should 
fail.  I  knew  also  of  his  Thespian  perform 
ances,  when  he  and  William  F.  Ritchie  and 
James  Greenhow  and  Creed  Thomas  and 
Richard  Gary  Ambler  and  other  schoolmates 
appeared  in  dramatic  character  under  a  tent 
erected  on  a  vacant  lot  one  or  two  squares 
beyond  what  is  now  St.  James'  Church  on 
Fifth  street — admittance  fee,  one  cent!  But 
never  was  I  prouder  of  him  than  when, 
30 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


dressed  in  the  uniform  of  the  '  Junior  Mor 
gan  Riflemen '  (a  volunteer  company  com 
posed  of  boys,  and  which  General  Lafay 
ette,  in  his  memorable  visit  to  Richmond, 
selected  as  his  bodyguard),  he  walked  up 
and  down  in  front  of  the  marquee  erected 
on  the  Capitol  Square,  under  which  the  old 
general  held  a  grand  reception  in  October, 
1824. 

"  One  evening  there  was  a  meeting  of  the 
Gentlemen's  Whist  Club  at  my  father's 
house.  The  members  and  a  few  invited 
guests  had  assembled  and  were  seated  at 
whist  tables  set  out  all  over  the  large  parlor, 
and  things  were  as  quiet  as  they  were  on  a 
certain  :t  night  before  Christmas/  of  which 
we  have  read,  when  a  ghost  appeared !  The 
ghost,  no  doubt,  expected  and  intended  to 
frighten  the  whole  body  of  whist  players, 
who  were  in  truth  stirred  to  a  commotion. 
General  Winfield  Scott,  one  of  the  invited 
guests,  with  the  resolution  and  promptness 
of  an  old  soldier,  sprang  forward  as  if  he 
was  leading  a  charge  in  Lundy's  Lane.  Dr. 
Philip  Thornton,  of  Rappahannock,  another 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


guest,  was,  however,  nearer  to  the  door  and 
quicker  than  he.  Presently,  the  ghost,  find 
ing  himself  closely  pressed,  began  to  retreat, 
backing  around  the  room,  yet  keeping  his 
face  to  the  foe,  and  as  the  Doctor  was  reach 
ing  out  and  trying  to  seize  the  ghost's  nose 
with  the  view  to  twitch  it  off,  the  ghost  was 
'larruping7  him  over  the  shoulder  with 
the  long  cane  which  he  carried  in  one  hand, 
while  with  the  other  hand  he  was  struggling 
to  keep  from  being  tripped  by  the  sheet 
which  enveloped  his  body.  When  finally 
forced  to  surrender  and  the  mask  was  taken 
from  his  face,  Edgar  laughed  as  heartily  as 
ever  a  ghost  did  before. 

"  In  February,  1826,  Poe  was  entered  as 
a  student  at  the  University  of  Virginia. 
There  began  that  course  of  conduct  which, 
step  by  step,  led  to  the  wretchedness  of  the 
after  part  of  his  life.  Sad,  inexpressibly 
sad,  and  pathetic  it  was,  indeed." 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


IF  The  following  recollections  of  Mr.  William  Wer- 
tenbaker,  appointed  Librarian  of  the  University  of 
Virginia  by  Jefferson  himself,  were  drawn  up  in 
1869,  when  the  aged  Librarian  was  still  living,  but 
have  never  had  an  adequate  presentation  to  the  pub 
lic.  They  appeared  eighteen  years  ago  in  the  Uni 
versity  Magazine  (a  local  publication),  and  have  been 
utilized  to  a  slight  degree  by  Poe's  biographers 
(among  others  by  Mr.  Woodberry  in  his  admirable 
Life).  A  close  inspection  has  revealed  numerous 
and  important  errors  in  the  Wertenbaker  account  of 
Poe's  University  career,  the  detection  of  which  is  due 
to  the  researches  of  Mr.  S.  Poitevent,  a  recent  student 
of  the  University. 


II— POE  AS  A  STUDENT 

1 

CCiy  /fR-  POE  was  a  student  during  the 
j\/|  second  session,  which  com 
menced  February  ist  and  ter 
minated  December  I5th,  1826.  He  signed 
the  matriculation  book  on  the  I4th  of  Feb 
ruary,  and  remained  in  good  standing  until 
the  session  closed.  He  was  born  on  the  iQth 
day  of  January,  1809,  being  a  little  over  17 
when  he  matriculated.  He  entered  the 
schools  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Languages, 
attending  the  lectures  in  Latin,  Greek, 
French,  Spanish  and  Italian. 

"  I  was  myself  a  member  of  the  last  three 
classes,  and  can  testify  that  he  was  tolerably 
regular  in  his  attendance,  and  a  successful 
student,  having  attained  distinction  at  the 

35 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


Final  Examination  in  Latin  and  French; 
and  this  was  at  that  time  the  highest  honor 
a  student  could  obtain.  The  present  regu 
lations  in  regard  to  degrees  had  not  then 
been  adopted.  Under  existing  regulations 
he  would  have  graduated  in  the  two  lan 
guages  above  named,  and  have  been  entitled 
to  diplomas.  On  one  occasion  Professor 
Blaettermann*  requested  his  Italian  class  to 
render  into  English  verse  a  portion  of  the 
lesson  in  Tasso,  which  he  had  assigned  them 
for  the  next  lecture.  He  did  not  require  this 
of  them  as  a  regular  class  exercise,  but  rec 
ommended  it  as  one  from  which  he  thought 
the  students  would  derive  benefit.  At  the 
next  lecture  on  Italian  the  Professor  stated 
from  his  chair  that  Mr.  Poe  was  the  only 
member  of  the  class  who  had  responded  to 
his  suggestion,  and  paid  a  very  high  com 
pliment  to  his  performance.  As  Librarian  I 
had  frequent  official  intercourse  with  Mr. 
Poe,  but  it  was  at  or  near  the  close  of  the 
session  before  I  met  him  in  the  social  circle. 

*  First  professor  of  Modern  Languages  in  the  Uni 
versity  of  Virginia. 

36 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


After  spending  an  evening  together  at  a  pri 
vate  house,  he  invited  me  in  on  our  return 
to  his  room.  It  was  a  cold  night  in  Decem 
ber,  and  his  fire  having  gone  pretty  nearly 
out,  by  the  aid  of  some  tallow  candles  and 
the  fragments  of  a  small  table  which  he 
broke  up  for  the  purpose,  he  soon  rekindled 
it,  and  by  its  comfortable  blaze  I  spent  a 
very  pleasant  hour  with  him.  On  this  occa 
sion  he  spoke  with  regret  of  the  large  amount 
of  money  he  had  wasted  and  of  the  debts  he 
had  contracted  during  the  session.  If  my 
memory  is  not  at  fault,  he  estimated  his  in 
debtedness  at  $2,000,  and,  tho  they  were 
gaming  debts,  he  was  earnest  and  emphatic 
in  the  declaration  that  he  was  bound  by 
honor  to  pay,  at  the  earliest  opportunity, 
every  cent  of  them.  He  certainly  was  not 
habitually  intemperate,  but  he  may  occa 
sionally  have  entered  into  a  frolic.  I  often 
saw  him  in  the  lecture  room  and  in  the 
library,  but  never  in  the  slightest  degree 
under  the  influence  of  intoxicating  liquors. 
Among  the  professors  he  had  the  reputation 
of  being  a  sober,  quiet  and  orderly  young 

37 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


man,  and  to  them  and  the  officers  his  deport 
ment  was  uniformly  that  of  an  intelligent  and 
polished  gentleman.  Altho  his  practice  of 
gaming  did  escape  detection,  the  hardihood, 
intemperance  and  reckless  wildness  imputed 
to  him  by  his  biographers,  had  he  been  guilty 
of  them,  must  inevitably  have  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  faculty  and  met  with  mer 
ited  punishment.  The  records  of  which  I 
was  then,  and  am  still,  the  custodian,  attest 
that  at  no  time  during  the  session  did  he  fall 
under  the  censure  of  the  faculty.  Mr.  Poe's 
connection  with  the  university  was  dissolved 
by  the  termination  of  the  session  on  the  1 5th 
of  December,  1826.  He  then  wanted  little 
over  a  month  of  having  attained  to  the  age 
of  18;  the  date  of  his  birth  was  plainly  en 
tered  in  his  own  handwriting  on  the  matric 
ulation  book.  Were  he  now  living  his  age 
on  the  i Qth  of  this  month  (January,  1869) 
would  be  60.  He  never  returned  to  the  uni 
versity,  and  I  think  it  probable  that  the 
night  I  visited  him  was  the  last  he  spent 
here.  I  draw  this  inference  not  from  mem 
ory,  but  from  the  fact,  that  having  no  further 

38 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


use  for  his  candles  and  table  he  made  fuel  of 
them 

"  Mr.  Poe's  works  are  more  in  demand 
and  more  read  than  those  of  any  other 
author,  American  or  foreign,  now  in  the 
library.  To  gratify  curiosity  I  copy  from 
the  register  a  list  of  the  books  which  Mr. 
Poe  borrowed  from  the  library  while  he  was 
a  student :  Rollin — '  Histoire  Ancienne,' 
'  Histoire  Romaine;  '  Robertson's — 'Amer 
ica  ; '  Marshall's — '  Washington ; '  Voltaire's 
— 'Histoire  Particuliere ; '  Dufief's — 'Na 
ture  Displayed.' 
"  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,,  January,  1869." 

Mr.  Poitevent's  etude  analyzes  the  Wert- 
enbaker  memoir  carefully,  and  corrects  it  in 
some  important  particulars.  Among  these 
are  the  facts  that  he  did  not  sign  the  matric 
ulation  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  there  is 
no  faculty  record  of  his  attending  any  classes 
but  the  Senior  Latin  and  the  Senior  French, 
in  which  he  is  said  to  have  "  excelled " 
(Faculty  Minutes,  December  I5th,  1826, 
Vol.  II,  p.  3).  When  summoned  before  the 

39 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


faculty  with  eight  of  his  fellow  students  to 
testify  whether  or  not  certain  university 
hotel-keepers  had  been  in  the  habit  of  play 
ing  at  games  of  chance  with  the  students  in 
their  dormitories,  Poe  simply  says : 

"  Edgar  Poe  never  heard  until  now  of  any 
HOTEL  KEEPERS  playing  cards  or  drinking 
with  students."  (Faculty  Minutes,  Vol.  II, 
P-  IS-) 

There  is  no  record  of  rustication,  expul 
sion  or  punishment  of  any  kind  inflicted  in 
the  official  books  of  the  university.  Mr. 
Poitevent  continues: 

He  was  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-sixth 
student  who  matriculated.  He  entered  Feb 
ruary  1 4th,  1826;  gave  his  name  as  Edgar 
A.  Poe;  date  of  birth,  "  iQth  of  January, 
1809;"  parent  or  guardian,  "John  Allen," 
the  e  afterward  having  been  changed  in  lead 
pencil  to  a;  place  of  residence,  "  Rich 
mond;"  professors  attended,  "Long" 
[Professor  of  Greek  and  Latin]  and  "  Blaet- 
40 


FACSIMILE    OF    THE    PAGE    OF    THE      MATRICULATION      BOOK    OF    THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA  FOR    1826,  in  which  Edgar  Allan  Poe's 
name  is   entered,    apparently   in   his   own   handwriting,   left-hand 
column.      He  was  the  i  36th  student  entered  out  of  177  for  that  session. 
Column  record  gives  his  birth  as   "19  Jan.,   1809  ;  "  column   third,  his 
parent  or  guardian  here  spelt  Allen  ;  column  fourth,  place  of  residence  ; 
column  fifth,  the  "  schools"  attended — those  of  Prof.  George  Long,  the 
famous  Roman  historian,  translator,  and  geographer,  who  was. 


,,,-^/v. 


t^XTRACT  FROM  THE  FACULTY  MINUTES  OF  THE 
"^  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA  FOR  DECEMBER  SOTH, 
1826,  just  before  Poe  left,  recording  a  meeting  of  the 
Faculty  and  an  investigation  into  the  charge  that  the 
University  hotel  heepers  were  in  the  habit  of  gambling 
and  drinking  with  students,  with  Edgar  Poe^  statement 
denying  any  knowledge  of  the  alleged  practices. 


SITV 


OF 


• 

.--      .      • 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


termann "  [Professor  of  French,  German, 
Italian,  Spanish,  Anglo-Saxon] .  Under  the 
head  of  "  Remarks  "  there  is  a  blank  oppo 
site  his  name.  The  custom  then  prevailing 
was  for  the  Proctor  to  write  under  this  head 
the  final  disposition  of  each  student;  thus 
if  one  withdrew  or  was  suspended,  or  was 
expelled  before  the  end  of  the  session,  the 
fact  was  duly  registered;  otherwise  the 
blank  remained.  And,  therefore,  the  con 
clusion  may  be  drawn  that  he  was  neither 
expelled,  as  Dr.  Griswold  asserts,  nor  sus 
pended,  according  to  Mr.  Lowell.  Hence 
from  the  Proctor's  point  of  view,  his  record 
is  clean  of  all  college  dishonor. 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


H  A  note  from  the  eminent  Grecian,  Prof.  B.  L. 
Gildersleeve,  Editor  of  The  American  Journal  of 
Philology  and  Professor  of  Greek  in  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  thus  describes  Poe  as  he  ap 
peared  in  the  year  1849,  before  a  Richmond  audience, 
reciting  "  The  Raven  "  : 


IH_POE  AS  A  LECTURER 

OUR  concluding  glimpse  of  this 
strange  life-drama,  which  began 
the  same  year  as  Tennyson's,  Dar 
win's,  Gladstone's,  Abraham  Lincoln's, 
Chopin's  and  Mendelssohn's, — an  annus 
mirabilis  of  poetry,  music,  wit,  oratory  and 
science, — is  of  Poe  as  a  lecturer  after  he 
had  attained  celebrity  as  a  writer.  But, 
meanwhile,  when  we  contemplate  Glad 
stone's  and  Tennyson's  long  lives,  a  keen 
regret  may  well  flash  through  the  mind  for 
an  exquisite  gift  cut  off  so  untimely,  which 
might  have  flowered  into  marvelous  exuber 
ance;  for  at  forty  Tennyson  was  not  yet 
laureate  and  Poe — was  dead. 

Poe's  personality  is  as  vivid  to  me  as  if  I 

45 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


had  heard  and  seen  him  yesterday.  I  am 
old  enough  to  remember  what  an  excitement 
his  "  Gold  Bug  "  created  in  Charleston  when 
it  first  appeared,  and  how  severely  we  boys 
criticised  the  inaccuracies  in  the  description 
of  Sullivan's  Island.  Poe  himself  I  saw 
and  heard  in  Richmond  during  the  last  sum 
mer  of  his  life.  He  was  lodging  at  some 
poor  place  in  Broad  street,  if  I  am  not  mis 
taken.  At  least  I  saw  him  repeatedly  in  that 
thoroughfare — a  poetical  figure,  if  there  ever 
was  one,  clad  in  black  as  was  the  fashion 
then — slender — erect — the  subtle  lines  of  his 
face  fixed  in  meditation.  I  thought  him 
wonderfully  handsome,  the  mouth  being  the 
only  weak  point.  I  was  too  shy  to  seek  an 
introduction  to  the  poet,  but  John  R. 
Thompson  procured  for  me  Poe's  autograph, 
a  possession,  of  which  I  was  naturally  very 
proud. 

While  Poe  was  in  Richmond  some  of  his 
friends  got  up  a  reading  for  his  benefit,  and 
I  heard  him  read  the  "  Raven  "  and  some 
other  poems  before  a  small  audience  in  one 
of  the  parlors  of  the  Exchange  Hotel.  In 
46 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


spite  of  my  admiration  of  Poe  I  was  not  an 
uncritical  listener,  and  I  have  retained  the 
impression  that  he  did  not  read  very  well. 
His  voice  was  pleasant  enough,  but  he  em 
phasized  the  rhythm  unduly — a  failing  com 
mon,  I  believe,  to  poets  endowed  with  a 
keen  sense  of  the  music  of  their  own  verse. 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


\  This  picturesque  glimpse  of  the  poet  may  well  be 
supplemented  by  another  from  the  pen  of  Bishop  O. 
P.  Fitzgerald  who,  in  a  talk  to  the  Poe  Memorial 
Association  of  the  University  in  December,  1898, 
threw  his  recollections  of  Poe  for  the  writer  into  the 
following  impressive  form : 


IV— CONCLUSION  —  EDGAR 
ALLAN  POE:    A  TALK 

A  COMPACT,  well-set  man  about  five 
feet  six  inches  high,  straight  as  an 
arrow,  easy-gaited,  with  white 
linen  coat  and  trousers,  black  velvet  vest 
and  broad  Panama  hat,  features  sad,  yet 
finely  cut,  shapely  head,  and  eyes  that  were 
strangely  magnetic  as  you  looked  into  them 
— this  is  the  image  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe 
most  vivid  to  my  mind  as  I  saw  him 
one  warm  day  in  Richmond  in  1849. 
There  was  a  fascination  about  him  that 
everybody  felt.  Meeting  him  in  the  midst 
of  thousands  a  stranger  would  stop  to  get 
a  second  look,  and  to  ask,  "  Who  is  he  ?  " 
He  was  distingue  in  a  peculiar  sense — a  man 
bearing  the  stamp  of  genius  and  the  charm  of 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


a  melancholy  that  drew  one  toward  him  with 
a  strange  sympathy.  He  was  scarcely  less 
unique  in  his  personality  than  in  his  literary 
quality.  His  writings  had  already  given 
him  national  reputation.  The  gentleness  of 
his  manner  and  the  tones  of  his  voice 
seemed  to  me  to  be  strangely  contrasted  with 
the  bitterness  that  characterized  his  personal 
controversies.  These  controversies  were 
strangely  numerous,  and  in  nearly  all  cases 
their  intensity  was  in  the  inverse  ratio  to 
the  importance  of  the  issues  involved.  Poe, 
I  suspect,  was  one  of  the  men  who  said 
worse  things  than  he  felt,  his  talent  for  satire 
proving  a  snare  to  him,  as  it  has  been  to 
many  others  who  with  pen  or  tongue  sacri 
fice  moderation  for  brilliancy  or  piquancy  of 
expression.  He  was  harshly  treated  by 
some  of  his  contemporaries,  but  he  owed 
them  nothing  on  this  account,  giving  them 
as  good  as  they  sent  in  the  way  of  invective 
or  sarcasm.  The  bitter  personalities  of  lit 
erary  men  at  that  time  were  owing  in  part 
to  an  evil  fashion  then  prevalent.  The  duel 
ing  and  street  fights  among  politicians  had 
52 


KNOW  ALL  MEN  BY  THESE  PRESENTS,  That  we 


are  held  and  firmly  bound  unto  m'Wfr<*™s/7<rt'**</f*f**-  <z&ct*^e<w»^i.  Governor  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Virginia,  in  the  just  and  full  sum  of  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  DOLLARS,  to  the. 

sy&££i>^^, 

payment  wbereol,  well  and  truly  to  be  made  to  the  said. Governor,  or  his  successors,  for  the  use  of 
the  said  Commonwealth,  we  bind  ourselves  and  each  of  us,  our  and  each  of  our  heirs,  executors 
and  administrators,  jointly,  and  severally,  firmly  by  these  presents  Sealed  with  our  seals,  end 
dated  this  /(o  —  day  of  7?7<x^s/  183  <£. 

THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  ABOVE  OBLIGATION  IS  SUCH,  That  whereas  a 
marriage  is  shortly  intended  to  be  had  and  solemnized  between  the  above  bound 

and 


of  the  City  of  Richmond.    Now  if  there  is  no  lawful  cause  to  obstruct  said  marriage,  then  the 
above  obligation  to  be  void,  else  to  remain  in  full  force  and  virtue. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered ) 
in  the  presence  of          ) 


CITY.  OF  RICHMOND,  To  «* 
This  day 

before  me,  as 


above  flamed,  made  ootli 

Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Hustings  for  the  said  City,  thai 
—      js  of  the  full  age  of. twenty-one  years,  and  a 
resident  of  the  Said  City.     Given  under  my  hand,  this    rte,      day  of   //^<ax^x'  183  6 


UNIV 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


their  counterpart  in  the  shedding  of  vitriolic 
ink  among  the  literati,  great  and  small.  Poe 
only  differed  from  the  rest  in  that  he  had  a 
sharper  thrust  and  a  surer  aim. 

The  Richmond  Examiner  was  just  then 
achieving  its  first  and  winning  distinction 
as  an  able  and  ultra  advocate  of  State  Rights 
politics.  John  C.  Calhoun  was  the  leader 
and  the  young  "  chivalry "  of  the  South 
made  a  following  that  was  heroic,  and  that 
did  not  stop  to  count  the  cost.  The  Exam 
iner  was  their  organ  in  Virginia — and  a  live 
organ  it  was.  John  M.  Daniel,  its  editor- 
in-chief  wrote  political  leaders  that  were 
logic  and  rhetoric  on  fire.  Robert  W. 
Hughes  discussed  in  good  English  economic 
questions  from  the  standpoint  of  his  time 
and  his  section.  Arthur  E.  Petticolas  wrote 
concerning  art  with  much  enthusiasm  and 
some  show  of  culture.  Patrick  Henry  Ay- 
lette,  a  kinsman  of  the  great  orator  of  the 
Revolution,  whose  Christian  name  he  bore, 
with  a  free  hand  touched  up  current  poli 
tics  and  living  politicians.  Aylette  was  a 
picturesque  Virginian  of  that  time — a  man 

53 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


nearly  seven  feet  high  who  had  something  of 
the  eloquence  of  his  renowned  ancestor,  and 
the  easy  swing  of  a  man  of  the  people,  a 
man  who  believed  with  all  his  heart  in  the 
Revolution  of  '98  and  '99,  and  uniformly 
voted  the  straight  Democratic  ticket.  Mr. 
Poe  now  and  then  contributed  a  literary  arti 
cle  critical  and  peculiar,  unmistakably  his 
own.  There  were  others  who  wrote  for  the 
Examiner — among  them  a  youth  who  felt 
called  upon  to  expound  oracularly  certain 
controverted  Constitutional  questions  that 
Clay,  Calhoun  and  Webster  had  failed  to 
settle.  He  was  a  young  man  then,  and  need 
not  be  named  now. 

Poe  and  Daniel  were  often  together,  and  I 
was  not  surprised  when  informed  that  ar 
rangements  had  been  made  by  which  the 
former  was  soon  to  become  the  literary  edi 
tor  of  the  Examiner,  was  talked  of  in  news 
paper  circles,  and  much  satisfaction  ex 
pressed  by  the  initiated,  who  regarded  it  as 
a  transaction  promising  good  things  for 
Southern  journalism  and  literature.  The 
Examiner,  the  new  star  in  the  journalistic 
54 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


firmament,  was  expected  to  blaze  with  added 
lustre  and  fill  all  the  South  with  the  illumina 
tion. 

Poe  had  the  sensitive  organization  of  a 
man  of  genius,  to  whom  alcoholic  stimula 
tion  brings  madness;  for  such  there  is  no 
middle  ground  between  total  abstinence  and 
inebriety.  By  the  persuasion  of  friends  he 
was  induced  to  take  a  pledge  of  total  absti 
nence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks.  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  his  sincerity.  His  sad 
face  took  on  a  more  hopeful  expression ;  with 
a  new  hope  in  his  heart  he  was  about  to 
make  a  new  start  in  life.  It  was  announced 
that  he  would  soon  make  a  visit  to  New 
York  to  close  out  his  affairs  there,  prepara 
tory  to  his  entrance  upon  his  new  engage 
ment  at  Richmond.  With  a  view  to  giving 
him  pecuniary  assistance  in  a  delicate  way, 
and  an  expression  of  the  good  will  of  the 
Richmond  public  toward  him,  Poe  was  in 
vited  to  deliver  a  lecture  on  some  topic  to 
be  chosen  by  himself.  The  tickets  were 
placed  at  five  dollars  each  and  at  that  price 
three  hundred  persons  were  packed  into  the 

55 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 

assembly  rooms  of  the  old  Exchange  Hotel. 
The  lecture  prepared  for  that  occasion  was 
on  "  The  Poetic  Principle,"  and  it  was  read 
by  him  as  it  is  now  presented  in  his  works. 
He  was  a  charming  reader,  his  manner  the 
opposite  of  the  elocutionary  or  sensational — 
quiet,  without  gesture,  with  distinctness  of 
utterance,  nice  shadings  of  accent,  easy 
gracefulness,  and  that  indefinable  element 
that  draws  the  hearer  toward  the  speaker 
with  increasing  good  will  and  pleasure.  I 
am  glad  that  I  heard  Poe  read  that  lecture; 
its  sentences  on  the  printed  page  have  for 
me  an  added  charm  from  the  recollection. 
The  net  proceeds  of  the  lecture  amounted  to 
fifteen  hundred  dollars.  There  was  a  touch 
of  old  Virginia  in  the  way  this  was  done. 
There  is  some  of  that  old  Virginia  still  left. 
The  Virginia  of  that  day  and  this  will  dem 
onstrate  their  identity  in  the  outcome  of  the 
movement  to  provide  here  at  your  university 
a  suitable  memorial  of  her  most  distin 
guished  alumnus. 

With  the  proceeds  of  this  lecture  in  hand, 
Mr.  Poe  started  to  New  York,  but  he  never 

56 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 

made  the  journey.  Stopping  in  Baltimore 
en  route  he  was  invited  to  a  birthday  party. 
During  the  feast  the  fair  hostess  asked  him 
to  pledge  with  wine;  and  he  could  not  re 
fuse.  That  glass  of  wine  was  a  spark  to  a 
powder  magazine.  He  went  on  a  debauch, 
and  a  few  days  later  died  in  a  hospital  of 
mania  a  potu.  On  its  nearer  side  death  is  a 
tragedy  whenever,  wherever  and  however  it 
may  come.  But  the  tragedy  of  Poe's  death 
is  too  deep  for  words  of  mine.  He  was  only 
thirty-nine  years  old.  His  best  work  ought 
to  have  been  before  him.  Had  he  lived  and 
worked  with  unclouded  brain  and  ardent 
purpose  during  the  tremendous  decades  that 
followed,  what  might  he  not  have  achieved! 
Who  can  compute  the  loss  to  our  literature 
from  his  untimely  death! 

Go  on  with  your  work,  gentlemen  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  provide  a  fitting  me 
morial  to  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  your  illustrious 
son.  Young  gentlemen  of  the  University, 
do  your  part  in  this  good  work — and  shun 
the  rock  on  which  he  was  wrecked. 

This  Trilogy  in  three  Glimpses  thus  gives 

57 


New  Glimpses  of  Poe 


us  three  insights  into  a  remarkable  nature  at 
three  critical  periods  of  its  career :  the  child, 
the  student,  the  man.  The  fallen  angel  be 
gan  to  fall  very  early,  with  elements  of  pity 
and  terror  in  the  tragedy  which  might  have 
satisfied  Aristotle  himself. 

58 


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APR  "4  1940 


APR9     I960 


JAK   11   1944 


JAN  17  1947 


tr— 








APRl  3  1953  IU 


.•• 


LD  21-100m-7,'39(402s) 


I28& 


7? 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


